Chuck Cook/The Times-PicayuneDrew Brees said the New Orleans Saints defense is playing with a 'very opportunistic type of mentality.'

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, like his backfield mate Reggie Bush, said today that he likes how the team's defense is playing aggressively so far in training camp.

The Saints defense, under first-year defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, is working hard on stripping the ball. And, more importantly, concentrating on creating turnovers.

From Brees' perspective, he likes the way the defense is improving.

"That's just forming good habits," Brees said. "Even if it's just an incompletion, any ball that's on the ground, they're picking it up and running with it just to get used to that mentality. In a game, you see a ball on the ground and you snatch it up and run with it. I think that's a very opportunistic type of mentality."

He also said that not only is that good for the Saints offense to practice against, but it would be good for the Saints offense if the defense causes turnovers in games.

"Absolutely. Turnovers create so much momentum for us as an offense and also for the team," he said. "You get that short field and you just know you're going to score. That momentum swing is huge throughout the course of a game, especially when you feel like you're very evenly matched with a team. That is a stat that typically makes the difference, the turnover ratio. As an offense, the better we can take care of the ball and the more the defense can present us with those opportunities, the better off we're going to be."